Huge patch of plastic found suspended in Pacific

Conservationists have found a second huge plastic rubbish dump floating in the Pacific Ocean that covers close to 400,000 square miles — four times the area of Britain.

It was discovered by Charles Moore, an oceanographer and founder of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation which is dedicated to solving the issue of marine plastic pollution. He also discovered the North Pacific gyre rubbish patch in 1997, thought to be about the same size.

He and other researchers reported the new discovery while investigating plastic pollution in the South Pacific, off the coast of Chile. They reported that the plastic is bunched up and trapped in a known gyre; an area with circulating ocean currents.